title: TEACCH-based group social skills training for children with high-functioning autism: a pilot randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although social skills training programs for people with high-functioning autism (HFA) are widely practiced, the standardization of curricula, the examination of clinical effectiveness, and the evaluation of the feasibility of future trials have yet to be done in Asian countries. To compensate for this problem, a Japanese pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH)-based group social skills training for children with HFA and their mothers was conducted.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven children with HFA, aged 5-6 years, and their mothers were randomly assigned to the TEACCH program (n=5) or a waiting-list control group (n=6). The program involved comprehensive group intervention and featured weekly 2-hour sessions, totaling 20 sessions over six months. The adaptive behaviors and social reciprocity of the children, parenting stress, and parent-child interactions were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II), and Interaction Rating Scale (IRS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Through this pilot trial, the intervention and evaluation of the program has been shaped. There were no dropouts from the program and the mothers' satisfaction was high. The outcome measurements improved more in the program group than in the control group, with moderate effect sizes (SDQ, 0.71; PSI, 0.58; BDI-II, 0.40; and IRS, 0.69). This pilot trial also implied that this program is more beneficial for high IQ children and mothers with low stress than for those who are not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have standardized the TEACCH program, confirmed the feasibility of a future trial, and successfully estimated the positive effect size. These findings will contribute to a larger trial in the future and to forthcoming systematic reviews with meta-analyses.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  UMIN000004560.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Yoshida-Konoe, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. nakayama.takeo.4a@kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Yoshimitsu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Tokie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anme
authors.forename: Tatsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizaki
authors.forename: Hinako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Takeo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama